MattyJ wrote:

Last night while doing some writing for a course, I chucked on Dark Side of the Moon for background noise which isn’t too obtrusive. Anyone else do something similar? Any go to albums?

Not scores but I mostly use instrumental albums for background, or at least something more chilled that I'm less familiar with. If I know the lyrics I end up focusing more on the music.

YMMV depending on taste but a few of my go tos:
SOHN - Tremors
Budos Band - Any album but II is the default
Cloudkicker - Beacons or Let Yourself Be Huge
Asgeir - In the Silence
Animals as Leaders - Weightless
Russian Circles - Empros

Brian Eno.
Ambient 1 : Music for Airports and Apollo : Atmospheres and Soundtracks are probably the better known ones and for good reason.

Hope Dies Last  by Winterlight is another favourite.

Bach's Goldberg Variations

A Kind of Blue  Miles Davis

Night Train Oscar Peterson

One Quiet Night by Pat Metheny

Selected Ambient Works 2 by aphex as well maybe, but can get a little moody that one.

Aye, his stuff is grand.

Yep he’s got a couple track on the list. Very nice.

Dark Soldier wrote:

I just put old school jungle on as background music. Anything below about 160bpm and I fall asleep

Fistbump to that. My usual background music is punk rock. Three chords, three notes, bratty vocals.

What do people use to deal with mosquito bites?

My brother had some amazing stuff that I think he bought in Spain which comes in a roll-on bottle, put a bit of that on a bite and within seconds it stops itching. I’ve never seen anything equivalent in the UK, has anyone else?

Calamine lotion, which I've just realised I haven't had the pleasure of smelling for years.

Suppresses it I guess, doubt it stops it.  Haven't used it for about 30 years though.

I bought some antihistamine cream from Boots in the airport on the way home out of desperation, I can see why you wouldn’t recommend it.

Cheers!

My regime for dealing with bastard horsefly bites has been antihistamines, icepacks and hydrocortisone cream. Doesn’t feel like they’re helping, but combined they do seem to bring the swelling down a bit quicker.

If it helps with those fuckers, I’m sure it’d sort out mozzie bites.

There's stuff called Tiger Balm that's popular in Asia. It's got camphor or paraffin or something in it, and smells very strong, but it's really effective at reducing the itch and getting rid of the bite much quicker. You can buy it in Chinese shops here, not sure in England but I'd guess you can get it easily. It comes in tiny little jars.

Love the tiger balm smell. Used to have a red version in NL which I loved. Could only find a white version here which claims to be ultra strong but I find the effect disappears quite quickly. Reminds me a bit of the dampo cold balm my mom used when we were kids.

It might just be that the red and white ones are for different ailments. Will have to try how it works on mosquito bites, mine often turn a dark red / purple colour after a few days and it looks horrible. Got quite a few bites right now, but what's worse is that B got a bite or two as well and in the past he always laughed at me for always being the one with the bites, but now he got one he has to mention it at least once a day.

I assume his side of the story is "But I wanted to shag this other woman".

Kris, you tear him a new arsehole because as you said, and as he knows, you'll always be his mate. He doesn't need vindication right now, if he wants to tell his side, then he's clearly at least a little bit in denial that he's done anything wrong. Disavow him of that then have a few beers